A judge yesterday said she was appalled at a leading travel company's treatment of a couple whose holiday turned into a disaster.
Judge Clare Leonard criticised Budget Travel, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, when she ordered it to pay £1,000 to Ms Elizabeth O'Mahony, of Cork, and her boyfriend, Mr John Mahon, of Dublin, for the conditions they endured in Portugal in July 1998.
The Small Claims Court heard the brochure for their two-week break in Cruzerio described the apartment complex as "modern and beautifully maintained, offering good-quality accommodation and a small but attractive pool".
The apartments were also described as being "tastefully furnished", and with a regular cleaning service and weekly laundry change.
Instead, Ms O'Mahony said she and Mr Mahon paid £499 each for a "filthy dirty" apartment with a urine-stained bed-sofa, a dirty cooker with control knobs missing and a "mucky" fridge which the couple had to clean with bleach.
A boiler on the balcony melted and left them without water for three days, the court was told.
The swimming pool was full of dirty water and had scum around the top of it, Ms O'Mahony said. "Disgusting" toilets beside the pool had excrement on the walls and broken seats.
The replacement laundry was so full of holes it would "not be fit to be used on the floor" and a window could be opened only using tweezers.
Ms O'Mahony said the couple initially tried to overlook the problems. "We are fairly tolerant and we said we would get on with it but as the days went on we could not put up with it any more," she said.
They contacted the travel representative on the first Friday and were told that all the apartments in the complex were the same.
When they tried to minimise the time spent in the apartments by hiring a car, they were told the car hire system operated by Budget Travel was not available.
"It was a relief to get out of the place and go home," Ms O'Mahony said.
It took months to get a reply from Budget Travel to complaints outlined by the couple in two registered letters.
The company claimed the couple did not make a formal complaint and therefore could not be moved from their apartment.
The apartments complied with local regulations and were inspected by Budget Travel's representative, the court heard.
A solicitor for Budget Travel said the company's customer complaints manager had fallen ill and could not attend the hearing.
Judge Leonard said: "I am appalled with the attitude of Budget to their customers.
"It may happen from time to time that people have complaints and they may or may not be reasonable, but it is prudent to deal with those complaints."